Racing

Supreme Racing Club suspended from running horses by HRI

Syndicate has had account suspended due to alleged financial misdemeanours

Kemboy won last year’s Punchestown Gold Cup. Photo: Tommy Dickson/Inpho

Brian O'Connor's face
Brian O'Connor
Thu Oct 24 2019 - 13:09

The Cheltenham Gold Cup favourite Kemboy could be forced to miss his intended comeback at Down Royal next month, and other races in future, after his owners, the Supreme Racing Club, were banned from entering or declaring horses.

Horse Racing Ireland has suspended entries and declarations for horses registered to the Supreme Racing Club after allegations of financial misdemeanours from some members of the club. It is understood those allegations include claims of shares in horses having been oversold.

The Supreme Racing Club, set up by Englishman Steve Massey in 2011, has around 500 members and in recent years has grown to become one of the leading ownership operations in National Hunt racing.

It’s estimated to have had up to 40 horses in training at one time, many with champion trainer Willie Mullins who had planned to give Kemboy his first start of the season in Saturday week’s Ladbrokes Champion Chase at Down Royal.

READ MORE

Kemboy gave Ruby Walsh a fairytale retirement when landing the Punchestown Gold Cup last April on the jockey’s final ride. He had been ante-post favourite for next year’s Cheltenham Gold Cup since then. Mullins wasn’t available for comment on Thursday.

Members of the Supreme Racing Club pay an upfront cost for a share in a horse and pay a monthly fee to cover costs. There are designed to be a maximum of 20 owners per syndicate. The club has enjoyed other big race success with Aramon and Airlie Beach among others.

HRI had been seeking answers from Supreme Racing’s managers over complaints from members but didn’t receive the information it wanted. Irish racing’s ruling body confirmed on Thursday it has suspended the club from making entries and declarations.

In correspondence seen by The Irish Times, HRI outlined how it requested details to the membership of each individual horse with Supreme – including their contact details and shareholding – in August. Despite repeated requests no details were received.

On October 7th HRI informed Supreme that they could no longer make withdrawals from their HRI owners account and notified them their account would be suspended if all information was not provided by October 18th. After that date passed, and no member’s details were provided, HRI suspended the account.

Some members of the club have expressed dismay at the HRI decision to ban horses owned by Supreme Racing Club from being entered or declared, saying it penalises both them and the horses.